For my sanity to return, my boy to bring me a frog from the yard, a new little to join our family and what the Army holds for my Soldier as we get closer to retirement.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Eureka!

Yes Oz took a giant shat! But beyond that I took about an hour with a friend last night and muddled through all the mess. Luckily I wrote down most everything on the calendar and was able to realize a few things -

- The original formula GoodStart Oz was on while in the hospital before my milk came in seemed to do fine. He was pooping like a normal boy.

- Even with me mixing formula and breast milk because I wasn't producing enough he still seemed to be pooping fine. He just spat up, projectile vomited and screamed after eating.

- Once the Added Rice Starch formula was introduced his poops went down. So did his spit ups and projectile vomit. (Used for one week before the meds came into play)

- Once the reflux med was introduced his poops continued to go down to the point where it was 5 days between a poop. (This was a week as well before I called the advice nurse)

After the ER doc said change his formula again, and after reading several medical articles about how often docs change formula can make it worse and possible cause the real issue to be overlooked, I decided to go back to the GoodStart formula.

My reasoning is this - what new things were introduced to his environment?

Added Rice Starch FormulaReflux meds

Knowing that the tear sheet for the reflux meds says it can cause constipation then why not remove one of the new items and see what happens.

So I am going to wait out a week on the original formula, using the reflux meds. If he levels off and continues to poop like he did today (2 little medium hard poops & 1 big soft poop) and gives me at least one BM a day then I am leaving it all alone and driving on. I will still keep a little extra water in his diet (unless the poops get too mushy), but if after about a week to ten days he's not pooping regular then I will go back to the doc and ask if we can switch meds to one that doesn't list constipation as a side effect.

Now what cleaned him out is a mystery also. Sadly because I felt so frickin' bad for him I gave him the 3oz of water/syrup. When nothing happened I gave him 1 1/2oz of apple juice. When that didn't make anything happen, I gave him an ounce of chamomile tea. One of them worked, I just don't know which. (oppps!)

I'm not sure what to do with the "rash." We were using the lavender baby wash even before the diet changes and I don't remember seeing a rash. I will go ahead and switch out to Aveeno, fragrance free wash and see if it helps.

But I think going back to what was working and slowly introduce one possible constipation culprit at a time is smarter than going from formula to formula. Especially when the damn drug tear sheet says it can constipate. Notice how often I've said that here? That's because the ER doc seemed to gloss over it. Nice lady, very sweet but missed me saying that over and over or just dismissed it as not relevant. Besides he was good on the first formula so I don't think this is lactose intolerance like the ER doc seems to think.

Oh and any ideas on how to get rid of what looks like cradle cap in his eyebrows? I know you aren't supposed to put soap on his face really but plain water isn't removing the flaky stuff in his eyebrows.

ETA - I went to dinner with some ladies tonight who told me the rash could be a milk allergy. Okay seems reasonable. So I will still drive on with the GoodStart for 7-10 days and if the rash is still there consider going to Soy.

3 comments:

Back in the olden days....my son could have drank whiskey and tolerated it well. He was on Enfamil with Iron (not even sure if they make that anymore)....my daughter, on the other hand....was absolutely miserable. We did the formula shuffle ad nauseum complete with constipation, projectile vomiting and screaming...what worked for her was Prosobee (soybean) with NO iron and sugar water (water with kayro syrup)on occasion. She could not tolerate iron at all, made her horribly constipated.

As far as a rash, I used either Dial or Safeguard soap with great success on the body....not sure for eyebrows, but olive oil sounds good to lubricate the crusties.

My son constantly had a rash, too. There was NOTHING I could use that helped. I tried every cream out there - Desitin (all varieties), Dr. Boudreaux's Butt Paste, Balmex, and several other things. The doctors prescribed something call TAC which worked okay (it was some kind of cream mixed with Aquaphor)...but in the end, it was 123 Paste which worked the best. This is something you can mix all on your own. It requires Burrows Solution, which is a form of astringent, Zinc Oxide paste (cream can be substituted, but the consistency changes) and Aquaphor.

If you're interested, I can send you the exact measurements - just email me!

This stuff has been a staple in my house. My son's rashes got to be bloody...he screamed and cried and didn't want his diapers changed. I think it is definitely due to some form of allergy as opposed to just "diaper rash"

About Me

Welcome to my world. This is my random musings and sometime vents while living the life of a Military Spouse and working Momma.
Ive managed to complete my MBA and a MSM in HR. I love my second grader and learn a little bit of something from him each and every day. Im an outspoken woman and always seem to fight for the underdog. We are working towards expanding our family through adoption and can't wait to include a new little person into our home!
Since this is my blog and my main place to vent the slings and arrows of life, if you dont like what you read - comment (within reason...my reasoning that is) or stop reading. Its that frickin easy.